India, May 6 -- India's first crewed spaceflight, Gaganyaan, will lift off in early 2027 kicking off a new era of space exploration, launching two to three astronauts to an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission, with a second flight scheduled soon thereafter, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief V Narayanan said on Tuesday.

The crewed spaceflights, codenamed H1 and H2, will be preceded by three uncrewed missions (G1, G2 and G3), the first to be launched in the last quarter of 2025, he said briefing journalists on the Rs.10,000-crore Gaganyaan programme.

"Gaganyaan is catalysing India's emergence as a self-reliant space power, inspiring a new generation of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs," he said.

Minister of stat...